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We're coming to Charlotte for a long weekend - we'll have 4 full days - to decide if we want to relocate from NJ. My husband's office would be near the Westinghouse Blvd/S. Tryon St intersection if that helps
We know we want to check out neighborhoods that have great schools and not a terrible commute. The only area we're coming up with on the NC side is the Union County area; are there any other NC areas that would be good to check out for a family with children in elementary school?
On the SC side we were told to check out the Fort Mill area - but since our oldest will be applying to college in only 7-8 short years (the time goes by soooooo fast) we'd prefer to stick with NC if we can.
We definitely want to check out family friendly things to do in Charlotte - and parks, lakes, etc. My kids LOVE to fish and swim. Hoping to find fun outdoorsy things the kids would love in NC.
We're so spoiled living in NJ - we have the beach less than one hour away plus we live near the river, canal, lakes, etc. We're wishing we could have taken a side trip to Myrtle Beach while we're in the area, but we don't have the time.........
Thank you in advance for the help!!! Looking forward to finally seeing what Charlotte is all about!
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Person
We're coming to Charlotte for a long weekend - we'll have 4 full days - to decide if we want to relocate from NJ. My husband's office would be near the Westinghouse Blvd/S. Tryon St intersection if that helps
We know we want to check out neighborhoods that have great schools and not a terrible commute. The only area we're coming up with on the NC side is the Union County area; are there any other NC areas that would be good to check out for a family with children in elementary school?
On the SC side we were told to check out the Fort Mill area - but since our oldest will be applying to college in only 7-8 short years (the time goes by soooooo fast) we'd prefer to stick with NC if we can.
We definitely want to check out family friendly things to do in Charlotte - and parks, lakes, etc. My kids LOVE to fish and swim. Hoping to find fun outdoorsy things the kids would love in NC.
We're so spoiled living in NJ - we have the beach less than one hour away plus we live near the river, canal, lakes, etc. We're wishing we could have taken a side trip to Myrtle Beach while we're in the area, but we don't have the time.........
Thank you in advance for the help!!! Looking forward to finally seeing what Charlotte is all about!
ps: we'll have our kids (2nd/4th grade) with us.
You might want to scope out eastern Gaston County. I'd check areas zoned for Stephen Cramer High School & Cramerton Middle School. You'd be looking at Cramerton & part of Belmont.
We're coming to Charlotte for a long weekend - we'll have 4 full days - to decide if we want to relocate from NJ. My husband's office would be near the Westinghouse Blvd/S. Tryon St intersection if that helps
We know we want to check out neighborhoods that have great schools and not a terrible commute. The only area we're coming up with on the NC side is the Union County area; are there any other NC areas that would be good to check out for a family with children in elementary school?
On the SC side we were told to check out the Fort Mill area - but since our oldest will be applying to college in only 7-8 short years (the time goes by soooooo fast) we'd prefer to stick with NC if we can.
We definitely want to check out family friendly things to do in Charlotte - and parks, lakes, etc. My kids LOVE to fish and swim. Hoping to find fun outdoorsy things the kids would love in NC.
We're so spoiled living in NJ - we have the beach less than one hour away plus we live near the river, canal, lakes, etc. We're wishing we could have taken a side trip to Myrtle Beach while we're in the area, but we don't have the time.........
Thank you in advance for the help!!! Looking forward to finally seeing what Charlotte is all about!
ps: we'll have our kids (2nd/4th grade) with us.
Must see places/things in Charlotte on a quick trip:
#1 stop should be the Levine Museum of the New South so that you can get an understanding of Charlotte and her history as you consider moving here (even the kids will be entertained):
Then take a walk through uptown to The Green at 425 South Tryon - a lush, three-tier lawn/park which has quirky, novella-themed features, hopscotch paths and three towering fish fountains. Kids are regular fixtures here, but the park hosts a range of events throughout the year including outdoor Shakespeare performances and wine festivals.
[quote=NJ Person;36049997]We're coming to Charlotte for a long weekend - we'll have 4 full days - to decide if we want to relocate from NJ. My husband's office would be near the Westinghouse Blvd/S. Tryon St intersection if that helps
We know we want to check out neighborhoods that have great schools and not a terrible commute. The only area we're coming up with on the NC side is the Union County area; are there any other NC areas that would be good to check out for a family with children in elementary school?
On the SC side we were told to check out the Fort Mill area - but since our oldest will be applying to college in only 7-8 short years (the time goes by soooooo fast) we'd prefer to stick with NC if we can.
We definitely want to check out family friendly things to do in Charlotte - and parks, lakes, etc. My kids LOVE to fish and swim. Hoping to find fun outdoorsy things the kids would love in NC.
We're so spoiled living in NJ - we have the beach less than one hour away plus we live near the river, canal, lakes, etc. We're wishing we could have taken a side trip to Myrtle Beach while we're in the area, but we don't have the time.........
Thank you in advance for the help!!! Looking forward to finally seeing what Charlotte is all about!
ps: we'll have our kids (2nd/4th grade) with us.[/quo
I cannot answer questions about the school system, If you send me your email address I can send you a link to view Charlotte Mecklenburg school's report card. Lake Norman and Lake Wylie is close to the Charlotte and can provide fishing and swimming for your family. Charlotte Uptown has several museums and family related activies.
Charlotte is growing rapidly, and is a good place to be.
We definitely enjoyed our trip to Charlotte! We're still mulling things over so not sure if we're going to relocate or not. Right now we're feeling sort of torn - there are definitely some good reasons why we'd like to move down there and some good reasons we'd like to stay up here in NJ Its going to be a tough decision either way and I think whatever we decide we'll be second guessing ourselves.......
I wish we could have another weekend down in Charlotte just to focus on spending time in the city. We went to a Knights game with my husband's company and we spent an afternoon at Discovery Place (LOVED IT). And we drove by Pike's but never got to go there to eat - we went to the Mellow Mushroom in Ballantyne and the service was horrible (that's another story). I think we spent a little too much time driving around the suburbs checking out potential places to live. We scoped out lots of Union County and Fort Mill/Tega Cay and the kids had to put their feet in Lake Wylie (they are water bugs - love swimming/fishing looking for frogs, turtles, etc.). I left feeling a little squeamish about the fact that the lakes are man-made nuclear lakes. We've owned property in the Adirondacks (in upstate NY) most of my life so we're used to the glacial lakes and mountains. I'm sure its more a matter of perception then anything really being wrong with these types of lakes. The million dollar homes on them clearly show its not an issue....
Overall I think the Charlotte suburbs are VERY pretty. I love the open space, farms and the TREES. Love that there are mature trees everywhere, even the newer subdivisions (most of them!). The rolling hill topography reminds me of rural VA and the huge trees remind of me of here (NJ) and upstate NY. Your NC temps were the same as NJ during our visit. I like the idea of a slower paced lifestyle and how easy it was to get in/out of the city on a Sunday. We didn't even have trouble getting to the airport during rush hour on Tuesday b/c all the traffic was going the other way!
The one negative about our trip was the baseball game. We go to lots of minor league games here in NJ and its a really family friendly environment. But unfortunately that wasn't the case when we went to the Knights game. There were some really rude/unfriendly/drunk people sitting in our seats - we had two whole rows for my husbands company - but when the usher seated us they made a really big stink about having to move. They had Standing Room Only tickets. They actually moved to the seats behind us (still seats that we knew would be taken by the company people when they got done eating at the buffet) but before they got moved again they were harassing us! My kids were getting upset b/c this one woman kept saying 'those people took OUR seats' etc etc. Finally they got moved again and we were done with that. Then towards the end of the game these very DRUNK young guys decided to start heckling one of the players. I haven't even seen heckling that bad at a Yankee game. They would have been tossed out of our Minor League game for that behavior in NJ but no one did anything about it at the Knights game; that was pretty disappointing. My kids were pretty upset seeing that too. Definitely not a family friendly scene, don't think we'd go back there again. Then there was this drunk guy at the airport when we arrived. But no police or security around to deal with him either - so he got on our shuttle to the car rental place!!! When he got to the rental counter he tried to order McDonald's!! Seriously!!!
It was kind of strange -we are always out and about in NJ and my kids have never encountered a "drunk" before. Not even in NYC. But during our 4 day weekend in Charlotte they had this drunk at the airport, the people in our seats and the hecklers at the baseball game. Not sure if it was just bad luck or if its a Charlotte thing? But that was a little weird/disturbing. Even though that won't be a deciding factor in whether we moved to NC, its just one of those things - a bell you can't exactly 'unring' if that makes any sense.......
SO - happy we went and got to see the area. Love the idea of the kids going to good schools and living in a very family friendly subdivision with lots of kids, nice homes and somewhat lower taxes. Like the idea of shorter winters so more time outside and an overall slower paced atmosphere. Plus having more affordable college options with the NC university system. But we'd have to give up some of the things we love about NJ - including being near our friends/family. Tough decision!!!!!
We moved from Philadelphia to Charlotte last year. Below is just my $0.02 about the move. Ppl, please don't contradict my points...they're just my impressions.
I believe you had two bad experiences that have not typified our past year here in Charlotte. I personally love Mellow Mushroom in Ballantyne and never had bad service. In terms of the drunks, compared to the ppl in Philly, Charlotte seems to be to have much nicer residents. We went to a Carolina Panthers game last year. There was a terrible call that the refs made on one play...a hush fell over the crowd waiting for someone to start the "B...S..." chant...but it never happened. The game went on, the fans started cheering for the defense again and no crowd cursing was heard. I was pleasantly dumbfounded. Your airport story is crazy. I travel about once a month for work through the CLT airport and have never encountered that before. Typically a crazy high figure (I want to say 70-80%, but I could be off) of CLT passengers are just passing through on connecting flights. Perhaps it was an out-of-towner.
In terms of the weather, the trade off is 3 months of hotter summers for 9 months of beautiful weather. For me, that's a trade-off I'd make any day...especially since most of the subdivisions around here have pools.
Honestly, besides family/friends, what we miss most about the NE is the culture. Perhaps because we was nestled between bigger cities on the I-95 corridor, it seems like there was a larger variety of things to do up there. They have it down here, but you have to search harder for it.
In terms of traffic, it sounds like you were in the Ballantyne area. Please note that traffic is great except for rush hour getting into the city. If anyone has to commute uptown, it's about an hour each way from Ballantyne. Also, we rented in Ballantyne for a year before buying a home and were very glad we did so. Ballantyne felt a bit busy for us. We ended up moving across the border to Union County and it's like a whole 'nother world. Everything is still close by, but it just seems more relaxed over here for some reason even though it's only 10-15 minutes away.
No matter what you do, you have to choose what you feel comfortable with. And while difficult to do, at least from our experience, it seems like you had a couple of bad random experiences that have in no way typified our experiences here in Charlotte so far in the past year. Feel free to DM if you have any other questions or concerns and good luck with your choices!
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,684,299 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NJ Person
We definitely enjoyed our trip to Charlotte! We're still mulling things over so not sure if we're going to relocate or not. Right now we're feeling sort of torn - there are definitely some good reasons why we'd like to move down there and some good reasons we'd like to stay up here in NJ Its going to be a tough decision either way and I think whatever we decide we'll be second guessing ourselves.......
I wish we could have another weekend down in Charlotte just to focus on spending time in the city. We went to a Knights game with my husband's company and we spent an afternoon at Discovery Place (LOVED IT). And we drove by Pike's but never got to go there to eat - we went to the Mellow Mushroom in Ballantyne and the service was horrible (that's another story). I think we spent a little too much time driving around the suburbs checking out potential places to live. We scoped out lots of Union County and Fort Mill/Tega Cay and the kids had to put their feet in Lake Wylie (they are water bugs - love swimming/fishing looking for frogs, turtles, etc.). I left feeling a little squeamish about the fact that the lakes are man-made nuclear lakes. We've owned property in the Adirondacks (in upstate NY) most of my life so we're used to the glacial lakes and mountains. I'm sure its more a matter of perception then anything really being wrong with these types of lakes. The million dollar homes on them clearly show its not an issue....
Overall I think the Charlotte suburbs are VERY pretty. I love the open space, farms and the TREES. Love that there are mature trees everywhere, even the newer subdivisions (most of them!). The rolling hill topography reminds me of rural VA and the huge trees remind of me of here (NJ) and upstate NY. Your NC temps were the same as NJ during our visit. I like the idea of a slower paced lifestyle and how easy it was to get in/out of the city on a Sunday. We didn't even have trouble getting to the airport during rush hour on Tuesday b/c all the traffic was going the other way!
The one negative about our trip was the baseball game. We go to lots of minor league games here in NJ and its a really family friendly environment. But unfortunately that wasn't the case when we went to the Knights game. There were some really rude/unfriendly/drunk people sitting in our seats - we had two whole rows for my husbands company - but when the usher seated us they made a really big stink about having to move. They had Standing Room Only tickets. They actually moved to the seats behind us (still seats that we knew would be taken by the company people when they got done eating at the buffet) but before they got moved again they were harassing us! My kids were getting upset b/c this one woman kept saying 'those people took OUR seats' etc etc. Finally they got moved again and we were done with that. Then towards the end of the game these very DRUNK young guys decided to start heckling one of the players. I haven't even seen heckling that bad at a Yankee game. They would have been tossed out of our Minor League game for that behavior in NJ but no one did anything about it at the Knights game; that was pretty disappointing. My kids were pretty upset seeing that too. Definitely not a family friendly scene, don't think we'd go back there again. Then there was this drunk guy at the airport when we arrived. But no police or security around to deal with him either - so he got on our shuttle to the car rental place!!! When he got to the rental counter he tried to order McDonald's!! Seriously!!!
It was kind of strange -we are always out and about in NJ and my kids have never encountered a "drunk" before. Not even in NYC. But during our 4 day weekend in Charlotte they had this drunk at the airport, the people in our seats and the hecklers at the baseball game. Not sure if it was just bad luck or if its a Charlotte thing? But that was a little weird/disturbing. Even though that won't be a deciding factor in whether we moved to NC, its just one of those things - a bell you can't exactly 'unring' if that makes any sense.......
SO - happy we went and got to see the area. Love the idea of the kids going to good schools and living in a very family friendly subdivision with lots of kids, nice homes and somewhat lower taxes. Like the idea of shorter winters so more time outside and an overall slower paced atmosphere. Plus having more affordable college options with the NC university system. But we'd have to give up some of the things we love about NJ - including being near our friends/family. Tough decision!!!!!
If you decide to make the move you could try the Gastonia Grizzlys. I've never heard any negative feedback about their games.
We moved from Philadelphia to Charlotte last year. Below is just my $0.02 about the move. Ppl, please don't contradict my points...they're just my impressions.
I believe you had two bad experiences that have not typified our past year here in Charlotte. I personally love Mellow Mushroom in Ballantyne and never had bad service. In terms of the drunks, compared to the ppl in Philly, Charlotte seems to be to have much nicer residents. We went to a Carolina Panthers game last year. There was a terrible call that the refs made on one play...a hush fell over the crowd waiting for someone to start the "B...S..." chant...but it never happened. The game went on, the fans started cheering for the defense again and no crowd cursing was heard. I was pleasantly dumbfounded. Your airport story is crazy. I travel about once a month for work through the CLT airport and have never encountered that before. Typically a crazy high figure (I want to say 70-80%, but I could be off) of CLT passengers are just passing through on connecting flights. Perhaps it was an out-of-towner.
In terms of the weather, the trade off is 3 months of hotter summers for 9 months of beautiful weather. For me, that's a trade-off I'd make any day...especially since most of the subdivisions around here have pools.
Honestly, besides family/friends, what we miss most about the NE is the culture. Perhaps because we was nestled between bigger cities on the I-95 corridor, it seems like there was a larger variety of things to do up there. They have it down here, but you have to search harder for it.
In terms of traffic, it sounds like you were in the Ballantyne area. Please note that traffic is great except for rush hour getting into the city. If anyone has to commute uptown, it's about an hour each way from Ballantyne. Also, we rented in Ballantyne for a year before buying a home and were very glad we did so. Ballantyne felt a bit busy for us. We ended up moving across the border to Union County and it's like a whole 'nother world. Everything is still close by, but it just seems more relaxed over here for some reason even though it's only 10-15 minutes away.
No matter what you do, you have to choose what you feel comfortable with. And while difficult to do, at least from our experience, it seems like you had a couple of bad random experiences that have in no way typified our experiences here in Charlotte so far in the past year. Feel free to DM if you have any other questions or concerns and good luck with your choices!
We really loved the parts of Union County that we saw. We know that we'd need a subdivision with at least close to 1/2 acre lots but we don't mind a slightly older neighborhood so hopefully we could find that within our budget. Our subdivisions here don't have community pools and activities unless you live in condos so that was really nice to see too. Glad the drunks aren't the norm at the airport! He was harmless but just a mess. After he tried to order food at the rental counter we were more afraid he was going to wander off and hurt himself. They radioed for the shuttle to come get him back to the terminal but he really needed security or a police officer to keep him safe. The Mellow Mushroom lost our order and it ended up taking 2hrs from when we arrived to get our food. We ended up ordering the kids dessert before their dinner came bc they were starving. Then we were one pizza short and they said it would be another 30min to get that. We ended up just getting takeout from Leonetti' s (not sure of the name) - on the way back to the hotel since we didn't all get to eat. They gave us a $20 gc to go back......... and after my husband's boss spoke to the manager the very late pizzas we did get were free. The trip advisor reviews are all saying service there has tanked lately. Too bad bc we'd heard it was good.
that is where my husband works, in that area, we live in Waxhaw picked for the schools among other things
the commute can be through SC or on 485 depending on the hour of the morning you need to be there
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